zen-bear

Hello Steve and Adrian, Yes, I have seen cats gravitate towards psychic/energy healing, but especially to healing with the FP energy and also to simple FP Qigong practice. Cats can sense the Flying Phoenix cultivation once it kicks in, and, as far as I can tell from casual observation over the years, they like it. I spent from June 23 to July 8 house-sitting for friends in Santa Monica, CA and their cat Zora always came down to nest around my feet when I was doing standing FP Meditations or sit by my side or against my lower back when I was doing seated FP Meditations. Some dogs--smart ones--can be very energy-attuned as well. For the past several years, my middle-aged English beagle, Obie, would often (not always--but when he was in a mellow mood--for a hound is a hound) lie down prone between my feet right while I was doing FP Standing Meditations and sit either against my thigh or against my lower back/sacrum when I was in half-lotus practicing the FP Seated MSW meditations. Healing is an act of compassion and universal love. Some of "Man's best friends" and cats by and large know very well what is the most important energy is in the Universe. I'm not sure if I posted this account previously, but back in 1977 or 1978, when I was living in the Los Feliz hills of Los Angeles, one very,very foggy night I was practicing Tao Tan Pai Qigong called "Circling Palms" standing in a horse-riding stance on my carport when I heard the pitter--patter of little animal feet cross the road above my driveway, and then come down the driveway that was to my left. The fog was thick as soup and I could not see more than 6 feet in any direction. The sound of animal footsteps ceased. Then i saw emerge from the white fog a little black animal head. And then shoulders and front legs then part of its torso. But I couldn't make out what type of animal it was. It was too big for squirrel, definitely not a rabbit (which were very common there). Then he walks a few more steps from left to right in my field of vision and i see emerge from the misty fog this large black plume of tail that seemed longer than the length of the animal's body--and has a big white stripe running down its the length. I very coolly continued to do the circling palms but couldn't help keeping an eye on my visitor. He came closer...right up to my left knee. I glanced down at him and it was at that point that I recall that I actually prayed: "Oh Lord, please don't have this skunk spray me". After sniffing my knee for a second, nature's Qigong Master, Pepe la Pieu, finished his inspection of my form and vanished into the fog, trotting down the steps to the right and away into the brush. I thanked God for answering my small request. Sifu Terry

Hello to Fu_dog, TLB, Tao Mist, and Jeramiah Z, sbtl nrg, and others. Thank you for your recent posts sharing your unique personal meditative experiences facilitated by Flying Phoenix Qigong. I am glad to see that the practice for many such as yourselves has reached the level of meditative sublimity that you have each described. As a useful roadmap to recognize and understand the different states of that may be yet to come for each of you, I recommend this two-part article by the excellent psychologist and writer, Daniel Goleman, called "The Buddha and Meditative States of Consciousness", published in the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology in 1972 [Goleman was at Harvard in the 60's and early 70's and was a contemporary of Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) and they both did much to promote the secularization of meditation back then (which today seems like a given)] : Part I -- "The Teachings" http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CF8QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.atpweb.org%2Fjtparchive%2FGoleman1972.pdf&ei=unoYUMyZJ5CxigKUxoCYDA&usg=AFQjCNH-vs_L0B2evnrzT7ip01Nv6SXtcQ Part 2 -- "The Methods" http://saraswati.sawiki.org/sciy/www.sciy.org/_attachments/2516758/Goleman1972Part2.pdf I found Part 1 especially helpful when I started experiencing non-ordinary states of reality through the various systems of meditation and Chi Kung that I had started practicing in the mid-1970's. I found the chart on pg. 12 of Part 1 to be a useful map of higher states of consciousness (HSC). It is well written as a scholarly paper that uses descriptions of meditative states used in Buddhist disciplines and texts and correlates them to psycho-physiological states. Thus it provides both Sanskrit words/symbols and psychological terms by which to discuss your meditative experiences. A more secular adaptation/distillation of Part 1 of his article is Goleman’s 30 page article called: “The Buddha on Meditation and Higher States of Consciousness”: http://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh189.pdf I'm sensing that you all may be crossing a threshold in your meditative practice of FP Qigong and that a map and language might be helpful about now to understand present experiences and whatever lies ahead. If no guides are present, maps are essential in meditation, lest one get lost in the darkness of the unconscious. **Also, a very useful and profound guide to meditation is found in the section of the W.Y. Evans-Wentz book, "Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines", titles "Precepts of the Gurus." This book, btw, is required reading for all my students (even though I teach Taoist meditative disciplines).** Good practicing!! Sifu Terry Dunn

Hi Fu_Dog, The experience of pure existence, "simply being", that you described is a samadhic state that beginning students find is facilitated very swiftly by the FP Meditations. As for the "more to come", the next or "higher" levels in meditative states of consciousness, which the Buddhists call jhanas, come according to the quality of one's practice and one's personal evolution. As a vehicle for personal evolution that doesn't require the presence and supervision of a spiritual master, I can't think of a much better one than the Flying Phoenix Qigong. Best, Sifu Terry

Hi Jeramaiah Z., Glad to hear that "Joyful" is the word! Yes, the sideways Figure-8 pattern of involuntary swaying you described when you were doing Monk Holds Pearl has been experienced by many of my students. I sway a bit also, but not always in regular Figure 8's. If and when you experience involuntary movements while doing "Monk Holding Peach", let the thread know what pattern movement you manifest. So yes, FP practice can be fun, soothing, and delightful, blissful. Once one feels the tangible FP Healing Chi permeating the body, it's very hard to be grim about the practice. Enjoy the ride on the wings of the Flying Phoenix. Sifu Terry.

Dear Jeramiah, It is only now that I have gotten to read your posting regarding the golden light thoroughly. When I read it a few days earlier, I was beset with pressures and deadlines and read your post so fast that I missed one very key sentence: "I live in the depths of the countryside. There is no artificial light." --and missing these statements caused me at first to think that your seeing a golden light was a physiological effect of the intense hour-long practice of the FP seated meditations. As stated earlier in this thread, my students and I have seen the distinctive blue light of the FP Healing Energy with eyes closed in the inner environment and with eyes opened as a very visible aura. However, your description--and I assume to be true and authentic--is of a golden light visiting and illuminating your room, and not a physiological effect of the FP Exercises. This is indicated since you described going out into the night and seeing nothing but darkness and rain, and then returning to your room where the light had by then had disappeared. What you have described is indeed extraordinary and my gestalt reasoning is that you were possibly channeling a lesson from a source of genius through your dreamstate. Especially since you've since stated that you went to sleep around midnight and the dreamwork took place for some 3 hours and exhausted you mentally. This is something that has happened to me and my classmates on a constant basis (sans the mental exhaustion) when we started practicing GM Doo Wai's internal arts (FP Qigong and other systems). (I think I wrote in earlier post that on one occasion, one particular classmate and I "switched" our normal mode or "format" of dreams with each other, which was one of the wildest, wierdest, and most fascinating phenomenon I had ever experienced in my life. Since you said you fell asleep and dreamt/worked with a Chinese man teaching you some form of Taoist Alchemy, if this was not an imagining, or a "wishful-thinking dream", but you were actually working--and working so intensely that you woke up with your head swirling, then it is quite possible that the FP Meditations may have catalyzed this channeling of knowledge/spiritual visitation. But the only way to be sure is for you to recall what you learned through the dreamstate and then to test the knowledge as to its effectiveness and potency. Until the "transmitted" knowledge is verified, one cannot say what actually was going on with you from midnight til 3am that night. But the more perfected your Qigong and Meditation, the more lucid you will be during such dreamstates. Also, doing effective lucid dreaming exercises (as detailed in the Carlos Castaneda books) will develop your ability to be conscious of all the content of your dreams in real time, enable real-time cognizant control of your dream body's behavior in a dream, and,of course, allow easy recall of your dreams after the dream ends. If, on the other hand, you had gone to sleep earlier, say at 8 or 9pm, then what you described could have been an early morning venting dream (which is the mind's normal house-keeping--i.e., disposing o stress, overload, and conflicts that the mind didn't resolve during waking hours). But this does not explain the mysterious golden light bright enough to read by, which came and then left. Assuming that your account of what you is accurate in every way, I believe that you had a visitation. All in all, because of the unique personal power that I assume you have developed over the years through healing so many thousands of people,that mysterious and fleeting golden light may have been a sign accompanying your higher edification by a spiritual entity (that seers typically call an angel or a genie). The golden light may well be the carpet upon which your genie delivering your alchemy lesson rode in on. But only you know for sure. Congratulations. In cautious awe and reverence, Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. And yes, "Monk Holding Peach" is a very unusual Qigong exercise. It is unlike anything in any of the other 3 Qigong systems I have inherited. (btw, have you gotten to the phenomenon in MHP where the body rapidly folds forward at the waist and then bouncs back up to vertical, repeatedly? My nickname for Monk Holding Peach is "The Jerusalem Meditation" because the involuntary movements of the upper body bending forward and whipping back to vertical makes one looks as if one is praying at the Wailing Wall. I've observed this in my own practice and in my students ever since 1992. Monk Holding Peach is just very, very different from any type of Qigong exercise--even from all others within the Bok Fu Pai tradition: in terms of stance, posture, configuration, and, of course, breathing rhythm. However it works, I'm glad it's working well for you.

I just received news today from my classmate Sifu Steve Baugh that one of our teachers, Master Share K. Lew has just passed away at the age of 94 years. Master Lew was the 23rd generation lineage holder of the Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method) School of Kung-fu dating back to China's Tang Dynasty. The art is attributed to the legendary Lu Tung Pin, the "leader" of the Eight Taoist Immortals. In 1934, at the age of 16, Master Lew entered the Yellow Dragon Monastery (Gee Lum Gee), located at the summit of Mt. Luofu, Guangdong Province, China. He was also the nephew of the famous Choy Lay Fut master, Lew Ben (Lau Bun). Thus he taught the Chang Chuan (Long First) Form of CLF as an adjunct/pillar to his basic Tan Tan Pai training. Master Lew was one of the only two temple-trained, fully ordained Taoist priests residing in America; the other being Master Kuan Sai Hung of the Huashan sect of Taoism (the two met in 1983 and had a joyful time of it). He was also a peer and friend of my teacher of Flying Phoenix Chi Kung and several other internal arts, Grandmaster Doo Wai of the Bok Fu Pai (White Tiger Kung Fu) system of Ehrmeishan--so often mentioned in this thread by myself and Sifu Garry Hearfield. In fact, GM Doo Wai told me in 1992 that one of the reasons that Sifu Lew had moved from Los Angeles to San Diego in the mid-70's was so that he could be close to GM Doo Wai so that he could dp am exchange of their respective arts. I studied Tao Tan Pai from 1975 to 1983 under Master Lew's senior students John Davidson and Bill Helm of the Los Angeles and San Diego Taoist Sanctuaries. In 1988, Master Lew authorized me to teach Tao Tan Pai. In 1990, he taught me his Tai Chi Ruler. Perhaps synchronous with his passing, early yesterday morning, I practiced the Tao Tan Pai Six Stars neigung, the TTP Crane Form, TTP Snake Form, and TTP Monkey Form in my first hour of a 5-hour training session. Master Lew taught his Taoist martial and healing arts for some 52 years, profoundly changing the lives of all his students with his powerful and enlightening gifts of martial, yogic, and healing knowledge. As seen in this link, Master Lew was teaching right up into the final weeks before his passing: http://208.100.58.124/?p=454 http://sandiegofitnessmartialarts.com/blog/entry/3188853/cloud-hands-earth-meditation|workshop-taught-by-master-share-k-lew

Hello Flying Phoenix practitioners and FP thread readers, Yesterday morning, at the end of a 2.5 hour Tai Chi Chuan class, I led my students in the 3 stationary FP standing meditations found in Volume 1: Monk Gazing at Moon (6 minutes) Monk Holding Peach (10 minutes) Monk Holding Pearl (8 minutes) For lack of time, we didn't proceed to Wind Above the Clouds or Wind Through Treetops. Everyone remarked that they clearly noticed the different energy cultivated by the 3 closing FP Meditations in contrast to the energy experienced in the Tai Chi practice. They said they felt that the FP Energy was more sublime, more relaxing, ethereal and lighter yet thoroughly permeating and mind-clearing. Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello sbtl-nrg, The form points "arms draped over large egg shape rising from the ground"; "back straight as if suspended from above by string attached to crown of the head"; etc. are very basic ones that address one of the three essential aspects of any Qigong system: the shape/form of the body, or "hsing" (xing). The other two elements being (2) Chi (breathing) and (3) Yi (I): Mind or mental focus (which also includes visual focus). It's fine to keep these form visualizations in mind for as long as you feel you need them. No, you won't stunt your growth of awareness by thinking of good form. As I have stated, one can mentally focus on anything one chooses to once the breath-control sequence of an FP Meditation has been completed, as one will still derive the same benefits. The basic FP Meditations don't require a very deep wu-ji stance to be effective. In fact, I teach beginners to "bend the knees to the degree as if they're seated on the edge of a barstool" and students standing with almost knees locked can use Monk Gazing At Moon, Monk Holding Pearl, etc. to good effect. But the answer to your question is that it all depends on the martial training of the practitioner. If one is very limber and has been practicing, say, Chen Tai Chi for 20 years and as a result has very strong and relaxed stances, then it doesn't matter how deep or shallow that person holds his wuji stance--as long as he/she can stand at that level perfectly relaxed and comfortable in good form with unencumbered breathing. Enjoy the roller bar training. It perfects one's form and body mechanics, develops integrated strength, and puts serious "juice" into one's martial applications. And you have as a reference Sifu Hearfield's detailed demonstration clip on Youtube. Enjoy the FP Chi Kung practice--any way you choose to! Sifu Terry Dunn

Hi Steve, Thanks for your very good perspective from your years of experience with Maharishi and your passing on his advice of "maintaining the purity of the teaching." Alas, I'm afraid that it may be one of FP Chi Kung's unique and most interesting qualities that makes it susceptible to be practiced incorrectly or ineffectively by beginners. Recall that I have stated--and by now I think most practitioners have verified for themselves this to be true--that once the breath control sequence is completed and the FP Qigong posture and movements (if there are movements) correctly done, one does not have to mentally focus on anything at all. No visualizations, no guided imagery, no particular mental focus whatsoever is needed, yet the same physiological benefits will still accrue. Thus it may be the greatest irony that the freedom a beginner has to think about anything while doing an FP Meditation has given him the time and temptation to think of, well, mischievous ways of practicing the art ineffectively! --thus given creedence to that saying "the idle mind is the devil's playground"! This general musing was inspired by your and Fu_Dog's good responses to sbtl-nrg...but is not further admonishment against what Sbtl is doing. It's just my way of advising all to: "Just Do It--and only It--until you master It." Regards and thanks again to you and Fu_Dog for your contributions. Sifu Terry

Thank you, Jeremiah Zeitgeist, for your succinct advice based on good common sense in respect of generations of masters that created, refined, and then impeccably preserved the Flying Phoenix Celestial Healing Chi Kung so that it produce the profound results to this day. The goal of practice when one has a complete and effective Qigong/yogic system in front of them is to master that system. Once mastered, the wisdom imparted by the practice of the FP Meditations will then intruct one on how to apply FP Healing Energy to any endeavor or life situation. But first master the discipline by practicing it purely and correctly! Sifu Terry

Fu_Dog, Thank you very much for giving excellent advice to sbtl-nrg based on your solid experience of almost 3 years of FP practice. You basically took the words right out of my mouth, Lloyd. To cultivate the Flying Phoenix Healing Chi effectively, one should do a many of the basic FP Meditative Exercises as possible in one session. 30 minutes is minimum for beginners; one hour is adequate; 90 minutes is even better. You speak from good experience when you say that (for beginners) the FP Healing Chi becomes tangible and unmistakable at approx. 30 minutes into practice. As I've stated in this thread earlier, once one has established the FP Chi Kung in one's energy body by practicing 30 to 90 minutes a day (6-7 days a week) of both seated and standing FP meditations, the reserve of FP Healing Chi that's cultivated can be accessed and magnified almost instantly by simply doing one of the breath-control sequences. One cannot attain this level of access by interrupting FP Meditations with weight training. A second reason why sbtl-nrg's training schedule is not efficient use of FP Chi Kung is the fact that FP Chi Kung is not a good complement whatsoever for weight training, especially power lifting. FP energy is a super-refined and ethereal healing energy; a "heavier" energy--something akin to jing (released through the sinews in Tai Chi Chuan) might be a better fit with weight lifting. I did some weight training when I was in my 20's and 30's, but I balanced that training only with certain Shaolin and Tao Tan Pai forms to integrate the strength developed by weights into the natural movements of the forms--but I never paired weight training with any type of Qigong. Also, in the Chinese martial arts tradition, weights are only used very selectively only after one has thoroughly and rigorously been "stretched out" and has supernormal flexibility and range of movement as in northern shaolin. In terms of specialized weight training for kung-fu (as opposed to competitive Olympics-type weight-lifting), I have done for past 20+ years the exact same training using a PVC pipe filled with 25 lbs of lead ball bearings that Sifu Garry demonstrates in this clip: I do this exercise to this day in mostly standing position, emphasizing the coordination of the "flexing" of the horse stance with the extension of the arms with hands hooked downward. There are numerous health and martial benefits to this "roller bar" exercise. Cryptic hint: this exercise makes the entire class of martial techniques in all Kung Fu systems represented by or referenced by--for lack of a better verb--the Tai Chi posture "Pick Up Needle on Sea Bottom" extremely easy to do with powerful energy. There may be some forms of Qigong that would lend themselves well to supporting the type of weight training as sbtl-nrg has described, but I don't know of any. Thanks again, Fu_Dog for your reply. Good luck to sbtl-nrg in finding the qigong to complement his weights training, Sifu Terry

Hello Jeremiah, Thank you for sharing your confirmation of the consistent and unique healing and rejuvenating effects of the Flying Phoenix Qigong. As I've stated from the start of the thread, the FP healing energy has a very tangible and unique "flavor" or feel to it that is different from the energy cultivated by other Qigong systems and internal martial arts. And as Fu_dog has just mentioned, longer term practice only deepens the energizing effects through the body and more strongly "attaches" the energy to one's consciousness and Will-to-help-and-heal. Glad to hear news that there is interest in England for a Flying Phoenix workshop--and that you think it is sure to grow. As I'll confirm in detail with you by email at the appropriate time, the concentrated course syllabus has been in place for 14+ years and is ready to go. So sad to hear about the state of archeology in the U.K.--especially in a country that had made so many important discoveries in the field throughout history. While no consolation, at least your country isn't as bad as China, where in the 1990's the central government flooded the base of Wudangshan as part of its mighty 3 Gorges Dam project and destroyed about 1/4 of the ancient Taoist temples there. Best, Terry Dunn

Dear Jeremiah Z, Fascinating that you were an archaeologist in your previous life this life. I can't believe that that inner discipline isn't still screaming for more digs to work. You are indeed very lucky to be able to concentrate your work hours into a couple of days each week and to be able to spend much time writing and practicing things holistic and having fun. I have had a similar lifestyle starting from 1991 when I retired from a successful corporate career that was everything except meaningful--to proliferate the practice of Tai Chi, Qigong, and healing arts through media projects (television and film as well as dvds). Thank you so much for your kind and generous offer to organize Flying Phoenix Qigong workshops in the U.K. for me. Although this isn't obvious through one's individual practice, it has been my constant experience in teaching--without exception--that group practice of the FP Qigong accelerates the energizing effects on each individual at a geometric rate. My teacher, GM Doo Wai, when he first authorized me to publish videos teaching the FP Qigong in 1993, casually prophesied, "you will get a lot of good response from this art." With the DVD's completed in 2003, and with the tremendous aid of the internet and this discussion thread, I think we've crossed a critical threshold where smart people are recognizing the powerful potential of this safe and fast-working Qigong system. I look forward to plotting with you FP Qigong workshops in the U.K. Sincerely, Sifu Terry Dunn

Greetings again, Jeramiah Zeitigeist, Answers to your two questions: (1) If you had the necessary time for it, training in the other internal arts of Bok Fu Pai--such as Sifu Garry's Burning Palm system would not detract or confuse one's training and development in Flying Phoenix Qigong because they are part of the same Family of internal arts originated by Feng Tao Teh of Erhmeishan. Training in any of the Bok Fu Pai martial systems would only strengthen oneself--one's entire life process--and expand and enhance once's healing capabilities. Remember that the Chinese holistic tradition is "healer by day; martial artist by night". As I had also mentioned in a recent post, I am a preserver of two other complete internal martial arts ("Eight Sections Combined" and "10,000 Buddhas Meditations" as well as a small fraction of the Bok Fu Pai Kung Fu system, and these other martial arts--have only enhanced my cultivation of the Flying Phoenix Healing Chi. (2) It is absolutely NOT an impossibility for me to come to England to give a workshop or two. I love your fair country, especially the countryside. And as you might have read in my post above #1322 in response to Gary ("qihealing"), I actually filmed one of my old CKFH videos (Vol.6 of he old VHS series) at Stonehenge back in 1995 with a favorite director and friend of mine who has been residing in Wales all this time. I have several dear friends in the arts (not martial arts) in London and would love to make a journey to the U.K. to teach y'all (as they say in Texas) some Flying Phoenix Qigong--as much as you can take. Not only that, the Flying Phoenix Healing art had reached English shores in the past as my teacher, Grandmaster Doo Wai, was once invited to give treatments Queen Elizabeth II as an herbalist and energy healer. This shouldn't surprise you as some practical Old World ways never change: high alchemic art was always sought out by enlightened monarchs throughout their realms. Word of my teacher's healing prowess somehow got to the royal family; he was engaged in Hong Kong by agents of the royal family, brought to London, and after dispensing his services for Her Majesty, was given several letters of thanks by the Queen's ladies-in-waiting (which he had shown to me). Please contact me at [email protected] to plot such a workshop either in the near or distant future. Thank you and best regards, Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Jeremiah Z, Thanks for your thoughtful and answer to Hieronimous's question about practicing Tai Chi and FP Qigong simultanously. Your suggestions are good ones; your points are all accurate and grounded in good experience. Earle Montague is correct in assessing time for Tai Chi to become rudimentary Qigong. Call it "Advanced" Tai Chi Qigong--that comes with instruction in breathing, which is taught much, much later, if at all. As I had explained in detail in my post addressing Hieronimous's question, there is FP Qigong training does not interfere with basic or intermediate Tai Chi training as long as one doesn't practice them together in the same session but takes a 10-15 minute break between the two practices, or does basic Tai Chi training interfere with FP conditioning. As for the focus in horse stance training being either to strengthen the muscles of the legs or to develop internal energy: that is the difference between "external" martial arts and "internal" forms--and also a function of whether the practitioner is young or older. Wong Kiew Kit of course is a seasoned Tai Chi master. His focus in teaching horse stance would naturally be on internal cultivation. If one correctly practices deep horse stances in even so-called "external" kung-fu systems, one will still inevitably develop internal energy...because the correct horse stance (ma bu) integrates mind and body. I am in total agreement with Sifu Hearfield here when it comes to traditional horse training. The "hard" training in horses and postures in all Chinese martial art systems--including Tai Chi--is to condition one's physical body and develop proper body mechanics (i.e., perfect natural movement), integrate mind and body, ground one's energy, and start to organize one's Will, preparing it for eventual development to its highest potential (for when one is a youthful beginner, one has not yet developed a mature will, but just has a chaos of whims...and this undeveloped state is clearly reflected in the quality of one's martial art). Best, Sifu Terry Dunn

Hello Hieronimous, Answer to your question is simple and based on common sense: Yes, one can learn the Flying Phoenix Qigong while learning the basics of Tai Chi Chuan. The first 3 to 5 years of Tai Chi Chuan training involve mostly form training, the start of Push-hands, and possibly weapons forms. None of this interferes with or is interfered by FP Qigong practice. Except for extremely rare situations, most Tai Chi Qigong is taught well after 8-9 years of training and usually in 2nd decade of training or later. To use my background to illustrate this point: I had started training in the Tao Tan Pai (Taoist Elixir Method) kung-fu and neigung taught by Master Share K. Lew 5 years before I started seriously training in Yang Tai Chi Chuan under Master Abraham Liu in 1980. Throughout the first 15 years of my Tai Chi training, and continuing to this day, I also practiced the TTP internal arts. Starting in 1991, I practiced all the internal arts of the White Tiger system including Flying Phoenix parallel to my continuing training in Tai Chi Chuan. There has never been a conflict between my Tai Chi Chuan training--nor my Six Harmonies/Eight Methods (Liu He Ba Fa) training, for that matter--and the Qigong training in other systems, because the Tai Chi and Kung fu had been well established prior to my learning Qigong. Previously on this thread, I strongly advised all beginning practitioners NOT to learn FP Qigong at the same time that they were learning a different Qigong system. The reasons for avoiding this simultaneous training situation are obvious: (1) In some cases, the internal energy cultivation method of one Qigong system may obstruct or cancel out the cultivation method of the other. (2) If a beginner is learning 2 systems at once, he/she won't be able to tell which Qigong system is having what energy effects on him/her. So learning 2 or more qigong systems would most likely lead to confusion and the probably degrade the optimal effects of one or both of the Qigong systems. There is, of course, nothing wrong with learning and mastering different Qigong systems in their entirety, one after another. So proceed, Hieronimous! Sifu Terry Dunn P.S. Much earlier in this thread, I had addressed someone's perceived interrelationship or similarity between Zhan Zhuang posture and "Monk Gazing At Moon" exercise in the FP system.

Thank you very much, Sifu Hearfield, for addressing Chi Dragon's rather erroneous thinking out loud on many counts.

Hello Flying Phoenix practitioners and others: Steve Mehl ("tao mist")sent a question to me thru email because he had trouble posting it to the thread. I post our dialog here because at the end, I expressed the high watermark for proper Flying Phoenix practice: On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 11:44 AM, steve mehl <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Sifu Terry, After at least 4 attempts to post a recent question to you but it not showing up on the thread, I am sending it to your email instead. After doing all the meditations on vol. one for the past 4 months I am now doing the last one, Wind Above the Cloud, but you do not mention how many repetitions for that one are Rx. Also, your closing remarks say to do 50-40-30 before each time you do this meditation. Do you mean the breathing sequence has to be done each time we do one rep of WATC? Steve Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 12:18:23 -0700 Subject: Re: posting problems... From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Hi Steve, Answer re Wind Above the Clouds: Yes, you do only ONE repetition of the movements with ONE breath control sequence. that's the complete exercise. If you want to do the Meditation more than once, then you wait a couple of minutes then do the whole cycle over again: breath control sequence of 50 40 30 + one sequence of the movements. Sifu Terry On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 12:27 PM, steve mehl <[email protected]> wrote: Thank you for your prompt reply Sifu Terry! How many reps do recommend for this one? Or is one a day good enough? Steve Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2012 12:18:23 -0700 Subject: Re: posting problems... From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Steve, One is fine and can be sufficient. It depends how well you do each one. The high criteria for FP practice is this and its equivalent: Your movements become so effortless (frictionless) that you no longer feel your body. (and with FP Qigong and its breath-control sequences, this state is attainable much, much faster than through all other Qigong systems that I have practiced.) Until you reach this state of mind-body integration with the Tao, practice it and the other FP Meditations as often as you can. Best, Sifu Terry

Sifu Terry, I practiced 'Chi Kung for Health: Volume Six- Advanced Martial Meditations' AKA 'Chi Kung for Health Volume Five: Taoist Yoga for Strength and Vitality' (VHS) regularly for 6yrs before moving to some of the Flying Phoenix Meditations and can say, without any doubt that there is a big difference in the qi generated and the effects on the body and consciousness between the two. My VHS player stopped working soon after I started... and before I memorized all of 'Chi Kung for Health Volume Five: Taoist Yoga for Strength and Vitality' so I only practiced "Temple Guardian Stands at the Gate, Two Rivers Flow as One, Monk Splashes Water and Jade Emperor Lifts the Golden Pagoda." I now know that starting with these before Flying Phoenix is probably the wrong thing to do, but I didn't know any better at the time. This is just my confirmation for whatever it may be worth, that there is a big difference in type and feeling of qi in the Martial based forms and that found in Flying Phoenix Chi Kung. Thank you for making these authentic teachings available and for your support through this forum. Gary This is just my confirmation for whatever it may be worth, that there is a big difference in type and feeling of qi in the Martial based forms and that found in Flying Phoenix Chi Kung. Dear Gary, Thank you very much for sharing your perspective as one who has practiced other Bok Fu Pai internal energy exercises prior to practicing the Flying Phoenix Qigong and making the above confirmation. I'm delighted to hear from someone like you who has practiced the powerful BFP exercises on Vol.6 of the old VHS series for six years. The fact that you've practiced these powerful meditations gives you a leg-up over FP Qigong practitioners who have not had the benefit of this foundation. And NO, you did not proceed wrongly in practicing these exercises prior to practicing the FP Qigong. For my teacher taught our group these martial qigong exercises (as seen on Vol.6) at the same time that he taught me the FP Qigong. To clarify: it was my teacher, GM Doo Wai, who was taught the Flying Phoenix Qigong first in his childhood as a "safety net" and precursor to all the other internal arts of Bok Fu Pai that he would later master. What I called the "Taoist Yoga for Strength and Vitality" on the old Volume 6 VHS tape (filmed at Stonehenge in 1995) is a collection of powerful BFP health/martial qigong exercises that our teacher taught our group parallel to teaching me the Flying Phoenix Qigong. As you may have discovered, each of those exercises can empower martial art to profound effect. I have been planning a re-release of the Vol.6 Stonehenge material in a new program...hopefully within a year. Thanks again for your helpful input. Sifu Terry P.S. btw, to let you know how the Tao was turning that summer day in 1995, I was in the U.K. in pursuit of the love of my life--and during that time also hooked up and toured the country with my mentor in film and all things cinematographic, Michael Wadleigh, who was living in Wales at the time with his companion Ms. Cleo Huggins. Michael is the renowned director of the "Woodstock" musical documentary of 1969 and without any prior planning, we spontaneously decided to shoot what ultimately became Vol.6 of the VHS series right there at Stonehenge because the conditions were right on every level. Michael Wadleigh filmed all the footage seen on Vol.6 on a Hi-8 camera without a tripod.